McHugh and Burnett Win Asian Championships Silver
Aussies Chris McHugh and Paul Burnett have won silver at the Bandar Abbas-hosted 2022 Asian Senior Men’s Beach Volleyball Championship, with the second seeds and Tokyo 2020 Olympics bronze medallists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tipjan from Qatar securing the gold.
The 2:0 (21-16, 21-17) win on Friday evening handed the in-form Qataris the Asian title for the third time in history. Nonetheless, Australia stays atop the medal standing of the Asian Senior Men’s Championship with five gold, while Indonesia has four and China has collected three. New Zealand and Iran have won two apiece and Kazakhstan claimed one.
The World No. 4 Qatar team became the Aussie slayer in Bandar Abbas, knocking out the three Aussie teams in three matches of the final phase in the star-studded Asian Championship.
Cherif and Ahmed knocked out Australians Izac Carracher/Mark Nicolaidis 2:1 in the action-packed round of 16 on Thursday morning, before a 2:1 victory over Zachery Schubert/Thomas Hodges in the quarterfinals later in the afternoon. They defeated Chinese Li Zhuoxin/Xue Tao 21-18, 21-14 in the semifinal clash before taking on the defending Asian Champions McHugh/Burnett later in the afternoon.
McHugh and Burnett had a surprising start to their Asian Championships campaign with a 0-2 loss to Japanese Shoji Kensuke and Ikeda Jumpei in their first Pool C match, but after that they kicked into gear and cruised past their respective opponents with all comfortable victories.
On Thursday, McHugh and Burnett had a remarkable run to demolish Qataris Abdallah Nassim/Mohamed Ihab Zaki 21-18, 21-13 in the round of 16 and later outplay Kazakhstan’s Vladislav Pustynnikov/Artem Petrossyants 21-14, 21-10 in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinal encounter against Abdolhamed Mirzaali/Arash Vakili, the Australian tandem recovered from the first-set down to put it past the Iranian top seeds 16-21, 21-18, 15-11 in gruelling 50 minutes but found Qataris Cherif/Ahmed too strong in the final showdown to go down in straight sets.
All three Australian Teams, as well as the Qatari Champions are now on their way to Torquay, Victoria for the Great Ocean Road Beach Volleyfest, starting with the Beach Pro Tour Challenge event on Wednesday 23rd November, before the Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 on 28 November.
Get your tickets to the Great Ocean Road Beach Volleyfest at https://beachvolleyfest.com.au/
